I know I'm going to get alot of grief from certain friends, and from people I've never actually met, but here goes. Late this winter, my Dad and I decided that the time had come to go down the path of getting some new paint on the 5 window. Some backstory for those that don't know...
My Dad and the 5 window in 1964. It was his first car. He drove it for 3 years, joined the Air Force, and after shipping out to Vietnam, sometime during his tour ('68-69), my uncle blew the motor. It stayed in my uncle's garage for awhile but ultimately ended up in the barn.
Fast forward to 2005, we finally got it roadworthy. People loved it. I got lots of compliements. "Don't ever paint this or you'll f**k it up!" I got that from several people from here to Austin Texas. But it never has been the plan to leave it forever. Dad loves this car, and wanted very much to make it as nice as it was in '64. When he gave it to me, I knew someday, somehow, we would make that happen. And anyway, this coupe is more than just a another car within the family. It is as much about the memories associated with it over the last 47 years as the car itself. Alot of the scrapes on the rear fenders and the backs of the front fenders, I put there 35 years ago. Is there anything cooler to use as a slide than an old Ford coupe?
Summer of 2010 with my son.
After my son was born in 2008, we got the '55 wagon, so the coupe had to go back to my parent's house. In that time since then, we managed to give my cousin Owen "the sickness" regarding '36 Fords, and between the 3 of us, decided to make the paint happen. Along the way a few things changed also as well...
Got a new front bumper and guards, shorty rear bumper brackets, stainless taillights and plate brackets, full exhaust with cutouts and of course paint on the fenders and rumble lid.
Also replaced the F-1 rumble steps and the '34 rumble handle with the correct pieces. I resisted this to the bitter end. My Dad and Uncle put those on in the '60s because at the time, that was all they could find. Same with the truck door handles. I caved on the steps and rumble handle (Dad was going to change them anyway because it always bothered him), but I would not let him change the truck door handles. It's one of those odd little quirks unique to the car that will always remind me of my Dad and also of my Uncle. As much as he would rather they be the stock handles, he respects that.
I found a seat for sale up in Michigan, and needing one for the cabriolet, my Dad and cousin offered to go get it. So I bought it sight unseen. From what I was told, it was just an old seat, needing recovered. No problem, I don't want fabric in a cabriolet anyway. So they get up there and the damn thing is almost perfect! So it went into the 5 window instead, which of course snowballed into new door panels and kick panels that my cousin made from fabric ordered from Lebaron Bonney, and pulling out the gauges and rebulding them, and fixing all the drains in the windows. We still need to find a large industrial sewing machine as ours wasn't big enough to put the correct seams in the door panels.
You probably also have noticed the blackwalls and new hubcaps. My Dad's 3 window runs blackwalls, and he wanted to run blackwalls on the 5 window for awhile, so he took another set of wheels and bought blackwall radials. I like the blackwalls for a change. I built him a model of the 5 window about 8 years before it was ever close to leaving the barn, that had this exact look. I really don't like the radials, but for now, the blackwall look is winning out over hating the radials. I have the whitewalls ready to go at anytime.
So for now the body retains the old paint. Recently Dick Spadaro came out with the correct looking quarter patches, so we're going to cut out the Bob Drake patches and replace them some upcoming winter.
I enjoyed the patina, but I love the new paint.
The End.
